Ladies' Choice
by InTheWild
Summary: The girls get to pick their partners for the dance, but when Adrien isn't able to go, Marinette winds up asking Chat Noir instead. (Written for @meowxerz on tumblr for ML Secret Santa 2019! I went with Marichat with a lot of fluff, and a bit of romance and friendship from your preferences! I hope you like it!)
1. I Choose You

**Part 1: I Choose You**

**oooooooooo**

"Come on girl, you've been agonizing over this all week, _please_ tell me that today is the day?" Alya nudged Marinette's shoulder for the third time since class started an hour ago.

"I _told_ you, he probably isn't even going," Marinette breathed back through gritted teeth, silently praying that Alya would keep her voice down. "His father hasn't let him go to a single dance in the last three years, I seriously doubt this will be any different."

Alya groaned loudly enough to earn a pointed glare from Ms. Bustier. "But this is Christmas Eve, and it's Ladies' Choice – when are you ever going to have a better chance than this? Besides, I know you, and I know that you've probably already got everything all planned out, and you just refuse to act on it!" She whispered back, only slightly lowering her volume.

Marinette glared at her before turning head toward the front of the class, tired of having this conversation over and over. "I can't ask him to be my date if I don't know if he's even going at all. So, I guess we'll just have to forget about it."

The bell rang before Marinette had to endure any more of Alya's scathing eye rolls. Thankful for the easy out, Marinette began stuffing her things into her bag as quickly as possible. She had just stood up from her desk when she heard her best friend's voice again.

"Hey Adrien! You're coming to my place after Ladies' Choice, right? We're going to play a bunch of party games, and since Marinette doesn't have a date yet, we could really use the extra person to even out the teams."

Marinette froze in place, her cheeks blazing at the mention of Alya's "party games." In her experience they were often less of games, and more of Alya coming up with ludicrous ways for Marinette to embarrass herself. And adding Adrien into that mix would certainly only make things worse. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if he couldn't make it after all.

Adrien turned around in his seat to face them both, seemingly unaware of the color beneath Marinette's eyes. "Sorry girls, my father has already told me he wants me home to spend time as a family."

Nino scoffed from his seat next to Adrien, "more like he wants to make it _seem_ like you guys are spending time together. You know the real reason the dude wants you home is so that 'the public' doesn't find out you'd rather spend Christmas Eve with your friends than in that lonely-ass house."

Adrien sighed begrudgingly, "well either way, he's not going to let me out. I'm sorry that you'll be left without a teammate, Marinette, it would have been fun to go to my first dance with a big group."

"It's sorry, I'm okay – I mean – I'm sorry, it's okay," she rushed her words out, "I'll miss you – _we'll_ miss you. In the group, I mean." She flashed him a toothy grin, silently begging for him to stop looking at her so sweetly.

He chuckled good naturedly. "Well, maybe next time we can go together," he smiled back at the two girls before he and Nino left to meet up with his driver.

Deflating immediately after they walked out the door, Marinette leaned over to let out a groan into Alya's shoulder. "Told you so," she muttered.

Alya readjusted to pat her shoulder, "how far into your plan were you?"

Marinette squinted her eyes, not wanting to concede that Alya had in fact been right, and that she had begun planning how she'd ask Adrien in the event that he'd be able to attend. And in the unlikely scenario where she'd also somehow have the courage to do the actual asking.

"…I finished all twenty-three macarons this morning. I was going to surprise him after his fencing lesson this afternoon," she grumbled, shoulders sagging even further.

"Okay, well that isn't a total loss!" Alya encouraged, "macarons save for a while, so we still have plenty of time to find you a back-up date!"

Lifting her head to stare at her incredulously, Marinette had to refrain from laughing directly in her face. "Alya. There is no back-up for Adrien Agreste."

"Well no best friend of mine is going alone to a dance where she can literally choose her own date. So, you better think of someone to take, cause I'm not going to drag your sorry ass around all night."

Marinette's mouth hung open, affronted. "You're serious? You're being ridiculous."

"Utterly ridiculous?" Alya asked, her eyes shining.

It was Marinette's turn to roll her eyes, "ugh, please never say that again."

**ooo**

The evening ticked by agonizingly slowly as Marinette attempted to get some schoolwork done in the kitchen. But between her mother asking her how the plan went, Alya's continued messages with name after name of "suitable" date alternatives, and the smell of her perfectly made passionfruit macarons mocking her from where they sat on the counter, she was nursing a serious headache.

Matters were only made worse when her dad came home a few hours later, eagerly asking what he should plan to bake for Adrien when he came to pick her up before the dance on Friday. Sabine quickly gave Tom the signal to shut it, but Marinette had had enough already, and went upstairs without more than a quiet wave to the both of them.

"Ugh, Tikki, what am I going to do?" she groaned as she flopped face first onto her chaise.

"You've gone to dances by yourself before and always had a great time with your friends then, why can't you just do that again?"

"The whole point of this dance is for the girls to pick their own dates," she sat up to look her kwami in the eye, "if I just show up without asking anybody it'll be totally embarrassing. I'm going to look like a pathetic loser who just can't get over her lame crush."

"Marinette…"

"And I can still smell those stupid macarons! I need some fresh air." Getting to her feet quickly, she found her warmest coat, and fastened it as fast as she could, ignoring Tikki's protests about the temperature as she climbed up her ladder and onto her rooftop balcony.

Even with her ridiculously voluminous coat on, she was shivering within seconds.

"Marinette, it's freezing out, you're going to get sick!" Tikki scolded.

"Y-yeah well th-then I'll have a g-good excuse not to b-be at th-the dance," her teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Tikki opened her mouth like she was about to combat Marinette one more time, but quickly shut it and flew into hiding somewhere nearby.

Scanning around curiously, it took a moment for Marinette to see what had spooked her kwami. A few rooftops over she could barely see a glint of moonlight flash off a small, fast moving silver object. In the dark of the night, an ordinary citizen would have missed it, and if she hadn't spent the last three years fighting by his side, she herself would have never recognized it as Chat Noir's baton bouncing against his back as he ran across the top of the city skyline.

What was he doing out? They rarely patrolled on their own – at least, she didn't, so she assumed he didn't either. And she would have been alerted by now if there was an akuma attack. Besides, he seemed to just be running laps between her school and Notre Dame.

"Psst, Tikki I don't think he sees me. You can come back out."

"What is he even doing here?" she flew up to float near Marinette's eye level.

She just shrugged back, silently going through all the possibilities of why he would be going for an evening workout in such temperatures.

It was oddly hypnotizing to follow his movements, he seemed to be gaining speed, picking up a bit more air with each jump. She had been watching him for longer than she'd like to admit by the time he slowed down to rest above the entrance of Francoise Dupont High School.

He looked around idly, before he stilled. Even at this distance, she could recognize the change in his posture. She had been spotted. And he was laughing at her.

It took less than a second for him to vault over to her, his steel-toed boots landing perfectly on the railing beside her.

"Well, aren't you quite the sight this evening?" He smirked as he looked her over.

"We can't all have magically heated super suits." She stuck out her tongue, hoping he couldn't sense her embarrassment. Generally, she avoided wearing this particular coat out in public. While it helped tremendously in the warmth department, it was nowhere near chic.

"You look like a massive, over-stuffed pink marshmallow," he poked her shoulder with two clawed fingers, as if he was curious just how puffy her outerwear really was.

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you even doing here, Chat?"

"What are _you_ doing out here? There's no way you're comfortable, even if you are wearing the world's biggest jacket."

"I asked you first."

He shrugged. "Ladybug and I decided to patrol separately tonight."

Marinette scoffed. She knew for a fact that wasn't true. But she'd have to take a different approach to call him out on it. "And do your patrols usually consist of hopping between the same two buildings for fifteen minutes?"

He sighed deeply, and shifted to sit on the railing in a slightly less cat-like position. She had expected some sort of quip about how she had been watching him, but it never came. Instead, he just looked off into the distance, mind clearly lost somewhere else. It reminded her of another time he had come to visit her on her balcony. _"I don't feel much like being a superhero tonight."_

The night she, as Ladybug, had accidentally stood him up.

But she hadn't done that again, had she? Wracking her brain, she couldn't remember anything other than their usual easy banter, and playful jokes in the past week. In fact, there had been little to no hiccups in their partnership for quite some time. Maybe something else was wrong…

"Chat?" She reached out to tentatively touch his forearm, only to draw back once she saw that she had gotten his attention back. "Did… did something happen with Ladybug?"

He sighed again, this time as if he was trying to shake away his own thoughts. "No, not exactly. It's pretty silly actually. You're probably going to laugh at me if I tell you."

Her brow quirked in curiosity.

"It's just… there's this dance happening at my school," he hesitated, like just saying it out loud made him realize how silly it actually was.

But who was Marinette to judge? A school dance was the exact reason she was moping tonight too.

Then, without any further prompting, it was like all the words suddenly tumbled out of his mouth involuntarily. "And, Christmas is kind of a pretty lonely time for me, and sometimes I just wish I could know who she really was, ya know? And I know it's a stupid thing to wish for, and it's safer not to know but… sometimes, I just wish I could hang out with her without the mask – that she could ask me to the dance, even just as a friend. That I'd be _my _lady's choice." He rolled his eyes at his fruitless attempt at a pun.

Marinette's heart ached inside her chest. She had noticed before that he always seemed a bit down around Christmastime, and with secret identities and all, she never felt it was appropriate to pry. But hearing the confession straight from him, his longing to just have someone to spend time with, formed a pit in her stomach.

The cosmic irony of it all was almost too much. Because, he was actually getting his wish right now, as Ladybug stood right next to him sans mask. And as easy as it would be to tell him the truth, solve all of his problems and just be there for him, it wasn't an option. Ladybug couldn't just suddenly reveal herself so that she and Chat could hang out.

But Marinette could.

Even if he didn't know who she really was, Marinette could be the friend he needed right now.

"It's not silly, Chat. I'm bummed about my school's upcoming dance too."

He turned to her; his eyes wide. "You are?"

Even during her few interactions with him as Marinette, she rarely opened up to him. "Yeah, I had this whole plan to ask this boy to go with me, and I was going to ask him today, but I found out that he isn't even going at all. Something about 'spending time with his family.' Even though his dad is like the most absent dad in the history of dads!"

"Hm, well that sounds like an easy fix to me. If you already have a plan set up, then why don't you just use it to ask someone else instead?"

Groaning, Marinette turned to lean her back against the railing. "You sound just like Alya," she grumbled. "But anyway, the plan won't really work on anyone else. It was silly and a fairly small gesture, but it was still meant for him, and I think doing it for someone else just wouldn't make any sense."

Chat tilted his head in curiosity. "Well how specific is it? I mean my best friend's girlfriend just covered his locker in sticky notes that had '_Ladies' Choice' _written all over them, and then her name with a bunch of hearts."

She smiled, turning to look at him over her shoulder. "Oh, my best friend did that for her boyfriend too!"

Stiffening slightly, Chat rubbed the back of his neck and avoided her gaze. "Uh, yeah, ya know I think I saw some videos of that online. Seems like a pretty common idea."

Marinette hummed. "Well, anyway, I spent all of last night and the better part of this morning making his favorite flavor macarons and coming up with this cheesy pun that he probably wouldn't have even laughed at anyway. And now," she gestured to her outfit, "I'm wearing this giant coat, talking to some cat-boy in the freezing cold."

"Hey. I resent that. I am _the_ cat-boy, thank you very much." He squinted at her. "And luckily for you, I also happen to be Paris's resident expert on puns."

She stared at him, refusing to indulge him and impatiently waiting for him to get to his point.

"_So…_" he drawled, "I'm the perfect person to help you salvage this situation. I only ask for a single macaron as payment."

Marinette rolled her eyes at him. Like she was going to show Chat the macarons she had made for Adrien. Let alone let him _eat _one of them.

Then again, they were just sitting on a tray in her kitchen, continually mocking her. Maybe she could bypass Chat's offer to help her entirely, and just let him eat all of them so she could stop worrying about it.

"Okay," she sighed, "I'll go get them."

His cat ears perked up. "Really?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Just no laughing at how lame I am, okay?"

He threw his hand across his heart dramatically. "I would never!"

Shaking her head with a smile, she opened the hatch back to her room and went inside.

Luckily her parents had already gone into their room for the night, so Marinette didn't have to make any excuses for why she was sneaking back into the kitchen after she had been avoiding it all night. It took some extreme focus (especially with her coat limiting her arm movements), but after a few near misses, she was able to climb back up through her trap door and then the ceiling window without dropping a single macaron from the sheet pan.

Chat, who had been leaned back on her lounge chair, twirling his tail idly, sat up immediately once she returned. Looking down to the tray, and back up to his excited face, her embarrassment was beginning to return. Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to letting him help her.

Before she could think about it any longer, she let the tray clatter down onto the small table in front of him. "Ugh, see! They aren't even good! The colors don't match the flavoring _at all_, I had to write the words on top in icing – and you aren't supposed to put frosting on macarons at all either – and to top it all off, they're just sitting on this lame baking sheet when everyone _knows _that macarons are always supposed to come in a box – and, and the whole thing just doesn't make any sense! It's a good thing I never got to give them to him."

Chat Noir continued to stare down at the sheet of macarons with a dopey grin, before looking back up to meet Marinette's nervous shifting eyes. "They're Poké Balls."

"Ugh," Marinette dragged her hands down her face. "You promised not to laugh!"

He held his hands up defensively, a smile still brightening his cheeks. "I'm not laughing at you, I promise! They actually look great, Marinette, especially if this guy really likes Pokémon."

"That's the thing!" She began to pace back and forth, "I don't even know if he really likes Pokémon or not! He mentioned all of one time that he wanted to play the new game, and the words came to me so quickly that I just got so focused, I didn't think about how it would seem totally out of left field!" She gestured down to the letters written in icing across the macarons. "_4 Ladies' Choice I choose you_? I mean, how lame can I get? He has tons of other interests! I could have made them black and purple and written some Jagged Stone lyrics – he loves Jagged Stone! But _no_, I had to go with a lame pun from a twenty-year-old children's anime!"

"Marinette, seriously," Chat stood up and placed his hands on top of her shoulders, making her eyes focus back on him before she could spiral any further. "They look perfect, I immediately got the joke, _and _they smell delicious. You clearly put a lot of thought into them, and I know if I had been asked to a dance with these, I would never have been able to say no."

Her shoulders relaxed as she saw the familiar sincerity pouring out of his eyes. "Thanks Chat."

"No problem," he winked.

Marinette smiled begrudgingly. He was always had to ruin it with that dramatic flair of his.

"I do have one question though," he pointed to the last three macarons, the ones with "_you"_ written across them. "Why are these ones pink and purple?"

She grimaced. "They're Master Balls… You only get one in every game, but it never misses… you know, to increase my chances of him saying yes…"

"That's clever, Marinette. You really think ahead, huh?" Chat chuckled, "but if there really is only one in every game, then I think I'll just have to eat the _Y _and the _O _as my payment for helping you. So that it's more accurate."

Marinette swatted his clawed fingers away from the macarons before he could touch them. "_Hey!_ No eating until you actually help me! All you've done so far is barely hold back laughter – I was hoping for some actual advice here, Chat."

He rubbed his hand where she had hit him, playfully holding it away from her in case she struck again. "Well," he paused dramatically, tapping his index finger on his chin. "I do actually have a solution that solves both our dance related problems, and will let you get rid of all these macarons right now. But I think you're technically supposed to be the one to ask."

Marinette's eyes narrowed. She supposed it _was_ a good solution for both of them. It would get Alya off her back, and while Marinette had meant what she said – that there was no back-up for Adrien – she knew she was sure to have a good time with Chat Noir. And Chat himself just didn't want to be alone the night of the dance – he even said he'd be happy to go with Ladybug as a friend.

Marinette bit her lip to hold back a smirk. For some reason it made her stomach flutter to know that if she agreed to this, that he'd unknowingly be getting what he wished for in the first place. And she was confident in her ability to keep her own identity a secret from him for a single night. The more she thought about it, the better the idea seemed.

Grinning, she picked up the Master Ball colored _U_ macaron, and held it out to him in the palm of her hand. "Chat Noir, will you do me the honor of being my date to the Ladies' Choice dance this Friday?"

Matching her smile, he bowed deeply, before tilting his head back up to meet her gaze. "It would be my pleasure, Princess."

**oooooooooo**


	2. Date Privileges

**Part 2: "Date Privileges"**

**oooooooooo**

"Just _tell_ me who it is already!" Alya whined.

"I guess that's one way to say hello," Marinette chuckled as she brushed past Alya and into the living room.

Marinette had decided that breaking the news to Alya that she'd being attending the dance with a super hero was best done at the last minute. This way she could – hopefully – avoid as many questions as possible.

"Seriously girl, I cannot believe you've been able to keep it a secret for the whole week," Alya reached out to grab Marinette's overnight bag as they walked to her bedroom. "I'm beginning to think you made him up," she teased.

"You'll find out who he is soon enough," Marinette shrugged, silently praying that Alya wouldn't explode from excitement when Chat Noir arrived in an hour or so. "Are the other girls going to be here soon?" She changed the subject as she began rummaging through her bag to start getting ready.

Alya hummed in affirmation, opening her mouth to elaborate, when she stopped to point at the small plastic box that Marinette had just pulled out of her bag. "Uh, what is that?"

Marinette frowned, "um, a boutonniere? You know that flower that you pin to the guy's shirt? You've poked Nino in the chest with the pointy end at every dance for the last three years?"

"I know what it is," Alya laughed, "I mean, why did you buy one? You know it's not a formal dance, right? I mean, the theme is Christmas in July. I was planning on wearing shorts."

"You don't do the flower exchange thing for casual dances?" While Marinette was aware that the Ladies' Choice dances were usually more low-key than the winter formals their school traditionally had, she had still never been to one. And with never having had a date to any of the formal dances either, she had been pretty excited about having a matching corsage with her partner for the night. Even if it was just Chat.

Alya shook her head. "Nope. You should probably text that mystery date of yours and let him know not to waste his money on a corsage if he hasn't already bought one yet."

"Knowing him, he probably bought it first thing this morning," Marinette grumbled.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and swiped it open before she froze, staring blankly at the screen.

"Crap."

"What?" Alya's brow creased, and she leaned over to try and see what Marinette was looking at on her phone.

Marinette cringed away from her. "I uh, don't have his phone number?"

"You don't have. His phone number." Alya repeated bluntly, as if she wasn't even surprised.

Marinette had gone over all the logistics with Chat the night that she they decided to go together. She knew full well that she wouldn't be able to contact him again easily, so she made sure that he had Alya's address and knew what time to arrive. But somewhere along the way he gotten too caught up in eating every single macaron (which were surprisingly his favorite flavor), and they had forgotten to discuss what they would be wearing. Marinette had realized this the following morning when she began planning her outfit, and just figured it wouldn't matter because Chat would just have to wear his regular suit anyway. But now she wasn't even sure if he knew it wasn't going to be black tie.

"Well, actually I'm not sure he even _has_ a phone, at least a phone that I'd be allowed to call – but I didn't think it would matter! And he kept making all those jokes about wearing a bow-tie! And since he doesn't even go to our school there is a very high chance he won't know about the theme and is going to show up in a top hat or something!" Marinette threw her arms up in exasperation.

"Woah girl, calm down," Alya grabbed her shoulders lightly. "Let's take this one step at a time."

Sighing, Marinette nodded. She was forever grateful to Alya for helping her keep a level head.

"First of all, stop worrying about what he's going to wear. He can take off a top hat, and surely you of all people can work around anything else that's wrong with his outfit," she raised her eyebrows, asking if Marinette was still listening. When she nodded again, Alya continued on. "Now, more importantly, can you _please_ tell me who the heck is showing up at my house in an hour? I mean when you mentioned the other day that he went to another school I just assumed it was Luka and you were feeling weird about telling me because whatever almost-thing you two had fizzled out when he went to university last year. But, not going to lie Marinette, the fact that you don't even have this guy's phone number is a little concerning."

"_Luka_," Marinette resisted the urge to stomp her foot. "Why didn't I think to ask Luka!? He's probably home for the holidays and that would have been _way_ less complicated!"

Alya continued to stare at Marinette, waiting for an answer.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette finally caved. "It's Chat Noir. I invited Chat Noir to the dance."

Alya blinked.

Marinette gave a toothy smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, waiting for the information to fully sink in.

"I – you – you're serious?"

She nodded.

"Chat Noir is going to be here. At my house. To go to the dance. To be with you at the dance. Us at the dance."

"Um, yes?"

"Girl!" Alya squealed, "how could you not tell me sooner!? I mean I had heard rumors that he stopped by your bakery sometimes after akuma attacks, but I never knew you actually got to see him long enough to talk to him – " she gasped suddenly, " – oh my gosh! Do you know what this means!?"

"Uh, no?" Marinette squeaked, just grateful that she didn't have to come up with some convoluted lie for why she was sort of friends with one of Paris's super heroes.

"It means that I'm going to have so _many_ great pictures for my Instagram! Ohho, and you invited him back over here, afterwards right? We are so getting him to play spin the bottle with us!"

"_What!?_" Marinette practically shrieked, her cheeks fiery. "No, no, no, Alya we are not playing spin the bottle with Chat Noir. He-he's the savoir of Paris, not some slab of meat to be passed around during your silly party games."

Alya merely shrugged back, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "All I'm saying is that tonight, he's here as your date. And as your best friend, it's my duty to make sure you get as many opportunities to enjoy date-like privileges as possible."

Fists clenched; Marinette was about to protest further when there was a knock at Alya's front door. With one last shining wink, Alya practically twirled out of the room, leaving Marinette a moment to cool the flush off her face before she went to see who else had arrived.

It was going to be fine. She'd just have to make sure to steer Chat away from Alya as much as possible once they all came back to the apartment after the dance. Knowing Chat, he'd probably be all too excited to participate in any of those ridiculous party games and then, in front of everyone she might have to – _no, no, nope! Not thinking about that_! Those were the kind of thoughts that had to be shut down _immediately_, because she was going to make sure that spin the bottle would not be happening. There was nothing to worry about. This was just going to be a fun evening between friends, there were going to be none of those "date privileges" that Alya mentioned.

Rose, Juleka, Mylene and Alix had all been dropped off by Alix's dad and were now standing in Alya's entranceway, chatting idly. Marinette could sense that Alya was practically bursting with anticipation to tell the rest of the girls who would be showing up as Marinette's date. Quickly she ushered them into Alya bathroom so they could all start getting ready for the dance.

Careful to keep the topics centered solely around what they'd all be wearing or what songs they hoped they'd get to dance to, Marinette managed to go the entire hour without single mention of Chat Noir.

Since the evening was themed around summertime, and the courtyard of the school was expected to be roasting hot with all of the portable space heaters, she had gone with a pair of pink high waisted shorts and a flowy blue and white striped crop top, which allowed for barely an inch of midriff to be seen. It was simple and surely wouldn't stand out among her other friends more sequined shorts or tighter tops. She preferred it this way. Especially when she was sure to be bringing enough attention to herself already with her choice of date. For the thousandth time tonight, she found herself wondering why she had agreed to this in the first place.

Just as she was finishing up tightening her signature pigtails, Alya's front door buzzed again.

"Marinette's date is here!" Alya jumped up in excitement.

"You don't know that! It could be Ivan!" Marinette countered, but she ran over to block the front door from her friends anyway.

Mylene shook her head quietly. "He just texted me that he and Nino are going to meet us there."

"Uh, well it could be... it could be…" But with Rose and Juleka going together, and Alix going dateless, Marinette was quickly running out of options for who else could be standing behind the door.

"I don't get it. We're all gonna see who you asked anyway, just open the door," Alix huffed teasingly.

She had a point. Time to get this over with.

With a deep breath, she turned around and opened up the door.

She didn't know what she had been expecting, but as soon as she saw the dramatic, romantic-comedy-like pose that Chat had taken up against the door frame, she wasn't sure how she could have expected anything else. The picture was completed with a skinny pink bow tie tied just above his golden bell, and a small plastic box in his hands that looked to be matching the boutonniere box that Marinette had pulled out of her bag earlier. She had to bite back a smile, secretly glad they'd both bought matching flowers for the other.

While the rest of her friends oohed and ahhed behind her – accompanied by a single "woah" from Juleka – Alya was first to point out the box in his hands.

"Aha! I knew you'd bring her a corsage!"

Chat straightened from where he had been slouched against the frame, "uh, was I not supposed to?"

Marinette winced, and mouthed a "sorry" as Alya quickly darted to her room and back, returning with Marinette's boutonniere for him.

Alya shoved the box into Marinette's hands before pushing her a little closer to Chat.

"Uh, I sort of forgot to tell you that it isn't a formal dance. And also, I guess we weren't supposed to do the whole flower exchange thing for casual dances," Marinette shrugged.

"That's fine, I'd still be honored to wear your flower Marinette," Chat bowed deeply.

Marinette scoffed. Silly cat.

"Ooh this is so romantic!" Rose cooed somewhere behind her.

Why did everyone have to be watching them? When Marinette had bought the flower, she imagined this exchange having simple banter between two friends. But suddenly with all of her other friends staring at them intently, the whole thing felt a lot more romantic. It made her stomach squirm.

Before Marinette could turn around and shoot a glare at them all, Alya came zipping up to her with a piece of scotch tape. Chat quirked his head in confusion, but Marinette understood. There was no way the boutonniere was going to poke through the material of his suit. With little fanfare, Marinette stepped toward him and taped the simple pink rose to his chest, just below his left collarbone.

He smiled down at it proudly before he reached out for her hand, and quickly slid the matching pink corsage up her wrist. But, apparently, the deed wasn't done yet. In one swift motion, he lightly dragged his fingers down her wrist, to clasp her hand and bring it up for a quick kiss.

Yanking her hand away just as his lips managed the briefest of contact, she glared at him. Hopefully the smile threatening her lips wasn't sneaking through.

"Okay, okay, show's over," she turned back to face the rest of the girls who all still seemed enraptured by the exchange between the two of them.

Thankfully, Alya seemed to sense that Marinette was beginning to reach her teasing limit, and shifted everyone else's attention away to take some group pictures, before they all grabbed their coats and headed out the door.

Alya's apartment was only a bit further away from the school than Marinette's, so they had all decided to walk to the dance. But the winter chill was so cold that even with substantial outerwear, they were all shivering within seconds. The fact that they were all wearing shorts to adhere to the dance's theme didn't help much either.

"I see you're wearing my favorite jacket again, Princess." Chat nudged one of Marinette's overstuffed sleeves.

"F-forgive me for wanting to b-be warm." Her voice was muffled behind her collar, which she had pulled up above her mouth.

They hung back a bit from the rest of the group, Marinette becoming more and more aware of the unusual strained silence between the two of them.

"I, uh, I'm sorry for the way they were all looking at us like we were some sort of reality tv stars earlier." She cleared her throat. "I probably could have prepared them better for seeing you show up at the front door. And I sort of didn't think about the fact that people might think I invited you as like a _date_ date, and not just as friends."

Chat shrugged. "I don't mind at all. Doesn't this sort of thing happen all the time at dances? We can't possibly tell everyone there that we both just didn't want to be alone tonight. I'm perfectly happy to have everyone think you're my _date_ date."

His sincerity took her somewhat by surprise.

"Besides, how bad could it be having all your classmates know you went on a date with Chat Noir? It'll probably be better just to embrace it. I mean, I'm so awesome that everyone will probably be clamoring to ask how you pulled it off and – "

She tuned him out. He had ruined it again, complete with over dramatic hand gestures and everything.

But she supposed he had a point. They were out together to have a good time, what other people thought shouldn't matter.

Watching him as he continued to prattle on about himself, Marinette couldn't help but wonder how long he would go on if she didn't stop him. Hands occasionally resting over his heart, or dragging through his hair, he was practically putting on a one man show. It was almost endearing the way he was so committed to being so theatrical. Almost.

By the time they reached the school, she had to hold her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. He was _still_ talking about himself.

Alya and the rest of the girls had caught on about halfway there, and had joined Marinette in her silence.

" – ya know?" He stopped in front of the steps to look at her eyes shining up at him, full of mirth. His eyes narrowed. "You're laughing at me, aren't you?"

Unable to contain themselves any longer, all six girls burst into a raucous laughing fit.

Heat spilled out from beneath his mask. "Why didn't you stop me?"

Giggles dying down, she beamed back at him. "Come on, _embrace_ it. We're all only laughing because you're the amazing and hilarious Chat Noir!" Sarcasm dripped off her words.

His flush fading, she could see he was holding back a smile. "Alright, point taken."

"How about I promise to stop teasing, as long as you promise to stop bragging?"

"But is it really bragging if it's all true?" He waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Oh my god, Chat. You're the worst." Rolling her eyes fondly, she grabbed him by the wrist. "Come on, let's just go dance, okay?"

Following the rest of the group up the stairs, the pair of them had to actively ignore the numerous looks coming their way. Instead, Marinette focused on finding their tickets among her many coat pockets so that they could get checked in. The other girls went in ahead of them, Alya and Mylene branching off to try and find Nino and Ivan.

Marinette and Chat Noir walked through the doors side by side, and were immediately enveloped by the sounds of the techno pop fusion music that blared through the speakers.

The school courtyard was comically decorated. Among the numerous space heaters, there were several inflatable palm trees that had been draped in Christmas lights, and over by the punch bar someone apparently had the genius idea to set up two rather large sand boxes.

"Are the decorations always this… tacky?" Chat whispered from the corner of his mouth.

Marinette chuckled. "Well, it's probably better than when they dropped mountains of shredded paper on us last year for the Winter Formal. The party planners called it a 'surprise blizzard' or something."

"Ohh, yeah, I heard about that!"

Brows creasing, Marinette was about to ask him how he had heard about her school's dance from a year ago, but she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Dude! When Alya texted me that you brought Chat Noir as your date I didn't believe her! But wow, here he is!" Nino was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Good to see you again, Nino!" Chat gave a two fingered salute.

"Alya, did you hear that!? He remembers my name!" Nino shook his girlfriend's shoulder enthusiastically.

"Yeah I heard it." She shook her head fondly. "I bet he'd also appreciate it if you treated him like a normal human being too."

Marinette giggled quietly, waiting expectantly for Chat to spring into another long-winded speech about his awesomeness. But when she turned to face him, he looked surprisingly bashful with his hand resting on the back of his neck and his cheeks tinged pink again.

"Uh, it's okay. I'm glad to know you're a fan Nino."

That was odd. Chat usually reveled in praise whenever he got the opportunity, especially because fans tended to fawn over Ladybug more than him. But right now, he just looked genuinely touched by Nino's excitement. Before she could think on it any longer, she was brought back to reality by her best friend snapping incessantly in front of her face.

"Hello! Earth to Marinette!" Alya waved her hand again for good measure. "Do you guys want to go dance, or what?"

Before she could answer, Alya grabbed her by the arm and dragged the two of them toward the dance floor.

The courtyard was crowded. Really crowded. Bodies were pressed up against each other everywhere, and then pressed up against them too as they pushed their way through to the center. This was a lot more intense than the upscale formal dances Marinette had attended in the past.

Heat sprawled across her face as she saw just how intimately so many of her classmates were moving together. Surely, she and Chat weren't expected to grind up on each other like that, right?

It was a relief when she turned back to see his eyes scanning the crowd with just as much apprehension as she was. It was fine. It was going to be fine. Just because everyone else was locked at the hips didn't mean that her friends would be too.

But fresh horror washed over her when she turned back around to see that Alya and Nino had finally stopped pushing through the crowd, having found Ivan and Mylene who were swaying together, her back flush against his chest. There wasn't anything obscene about the way the two were holding each other in rhythm to the music – in fact they looked quite sweet together. But as Alya followed suit by wrapping Nino's arms around her waist, Marinette's nerves spiked again.

She looked up at Chat hesitantly, and the two exchanged nervous smiles. His hands swung closer to her momentarily, before swinging back to clasp together behind him. They both stood frozen in uncertainty.

It wasn't like she was _against_ dancing with him. It was just Chat. She'd been pressed up against him thousands of times as Ladybug and never thought twice about it. But there was something about consciously deciding that she _wanted_ to be that close to him – in a room full of crowded people no less – that felt, well, different.

At least he seemed to look as unsure as she did.

Clearing his throat, he looked as if he was about to say something, when he was suddenly shoved forward by the crowd, his hands gripping her waist to stabilize himself.

"I, uh, sorry," he whispered. His breath was so close now that she felt it tickle the hairs on the back of her neck.

The gloved fingers that had brushed her midriff began to pull away from her before she placed her hands over his to stop him.

He froze beneath her touch, before settling his hands back on the sides of her waist. The way he had fallen forward, she couldn't see his expression anymore, but he was so close that she could practically feel the surprise on his face.

"This is okay?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

She swallowed thickly. Her stomach needed to stop squirming. "Y-yeah. I mean, it's a dance, so we should dance, right?"

"R-right."

**oooooooooo**


	3. Dance the Night Away

**Part 3: Dance the Night Away**

**oooooooooo**

_Okay, stop overthinking Marinette. It's just dancing. You invited Chat Noir to a dance, and now you're dancing with him, stop making it a big deal! No one is even paying attention to you anymore!_

Well, Alya seemed to be throwing glances their way every few seconds, but Marinette was purposely ignoring that so that she could better keep her cool. She reminded herself once again that they were there to have fun together, and well, everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, so what was stopping them from doing the same?

As calmly as she could, she readjusted their position so they were better matching the other couples around them. She shifted so that her shoulder blades rested firmly against his chest. And when he gulped, she could feel his neck contract. He was so much taller than her that he could let his chin rest on top of her head quite comfortably if he wanted to.

With his hands determined to stay exactly where she had placed them above her hip bones, she decided it was probably time to move. Bending her knees slightly to try and get a feel for the rhythm of the pounding music, she shifted her hips side to side.

But something felt off. And Chat's chest was practically vibrating against her.

"Are you laughing at me?" Her head fell back against his shoulder, so that she could shoot him a glare as best as she could from the angle.

He shook his head through the laughter. "Sorry, I'm sorry. It's just – and I'm no expert – but I'm pretty sure that your hips are supposed to be a little higher up than my knees."

Oh. Awkward.

As much as she wanted to be offended, she had to admit it was pretty funny. They both had no idea what they were doing, and she had essentially just rubbed her butt against his knee caps.

Folding her arms, a bubble of laughter came up. "Okay, then how exactly do you suggest we fix this height problem, String Bean?"

"Why don't we forget about the uh, grinding," he cringed, "and aim for something more like that?" He pointed a clawed finger over to where Mylene and Ivan had added a bit of a bounce to their easy swaying.

Marinette nodded, her hair lightly tickling his chin. "I think we can manage that."

It was still a little clumsy at first. Marinette wasn't exactly musically inclined, but they found a shared rhythm pretty quickly, moving their upper bodies in tandem to the music. She had to admit, it was pretty fun once she stopped worrying so much about how they looked to everyone else. Even if Alya still shot them a few winks.

Juleka, Rose, and Alix found their way over to their group after a few songs, and they all switched easily between dancing together as a group and going back to their partners. Juleka and Rose would spin and dip each other occasionally, Mylene, Ivan and Alix would head bang to the more rock centric songs, and Nino stormed off to yell at the DJ more than once for not playing music that he thought would better suit the night. All in all, it was going well.

The space heaters scattered around the room seemed to become obsolete as the night went on. They danced and danced. It was sweaty, and loud, and Marinette's feet were throbbing, but she couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun.

Every time she'd dance a song with the girls, Chat would immediately grab her by the waist again once it was over, complaining loudly that they were taking his date away from him. She'd pinch his arm or swat his shoulder, and then he'd tickle her sides, or poke her stomach. On one occasion, he wrapped his arms entirely around her middle and hoisted her up to carry her away, before he plopped her back down and rejoined the group.

Even though she knew it was all just more of him showing off, putting on a bit of a show for her and her friends, she didn't mind. In fact, it helped to know there wasn't anything serious behind his actions. It was nice to actually get to enjoy Chat's playfulness for once, to indulge his easy flirting and not have to worry she'd get distracted and let the akuma get away. She really understood what he meant now, about wanting a night to just spend together as friends. It was nice.

The DJ announced that it was time for the last song of the night, and the music shifted to a softer slow tune. While Alix made a face and said something about going to get some more punch while she still could, the remaining couples all turned to face each other. Rose rested her head sweetly on Juleka's shoulder, Alya and Nino kept up a playful attitude as Alya tried to take his headphones off his neck so she could better wrap her arms around him, and Ivan and Mylene stayed an arm's length away from each other so that they could better keep eye contact with one another.

Chat's arms slipped out from underneath Marinette's, and she began to turn to follow suit, but before she could turn around, he draped his arms over her shoulders instead. With his hands now on top of hers, he wrapped both of their arms around her and pulled her even closer so that their cheeks were touching. His skin was unbelievably smooth on hers, and she caught herself practically nuzzling against him more than once. An awkward laugh bubbled out of her chest, and she felt his cheekbones rise in a smile against hers.

Closing her eyes, she relaxed further into him. It was warm and safe being wrapped up in nothing but him and the smooth music that flowed around them.

But with Chat, things were never serene for long. He wove his fingers in-between her own, to grasp her hands and pulled both their arms out to the side so they were parallel the floor. And then he started making airplane noises.

"Chaat," Marinette whined as he started pushing her around the dancefloor, weaving in and out of their friends.

"Brrp, brrrrrp, watch out! This flying machine is expected to make a rough landing!"

Marinette squealed as he steered them right between Alya and Nino – who both broke out into laughter almost immediately.

Marinette wanted to be annoyed that Chat had ruined an almost sincere moment, once again. But with her tripping over her own feet while he continued to walk them around and mumble propeller noises in her ear, she just couldn't bring herself to do anything but laugh along with him.

So, she played along. Squeezing her fingers around his – arms still straight out – she leaned back against him and whispered, "I'm flying Chat, I'm flying."

He skidded to a stop, peering down at her quizzically. "Did you just reference _Titanic_?"

She laughed at his confusion. "Uh, yeah? Isn't that what you were doing, with the arms and the whole 'flying machine' thing?"

A mischievous grin slowly spread across his face. "You went along with my joke! You never go along with my jokes!"

"Well don't get used to it," she grumbled.

Somehow, he managed to grin even wider. Wrapping their arms back around her waist and lifting her feet off the ground, he began to yell, "I'm king of the world!" He proceeded to carry a squealing Marinette around the dancefloor until the song ended a minute later.

It was safe to say that the whole school was staring at them by that point. But Marinette couldn't bring herself to care anymore, she was too tired from smiling so hard.

The lights in the courtyard slowly turned back up to their full brightness, completely shattering the previous intimate atmosphere. The group shared a look and collectively agreed to start making their way to the exit.

Chat threw his arm around Marinette's shoulder as they walked in tandem. Alya caught up with them moments later, swinging her arm over Marinette as well, eventually creating a long chain of all their friends.

"Looks like you're already enjoying a few of those 'date privileges' I was talking about," Alya whispered low enough so only Marinette could hear. She pinched her shoulder for added affect.

"_Alya_," Marinette hissed back, shooting a quick glance up to Chat to make sure he hadn't heard anything.

Alya shrugged. "I'm just saying, you had way more fun with him than you would've if you had actually gone with Adrien."

Brow hardened; Marinette's mouth opened to protest. Of course, she would have had fun with Adrien. She loved Adrien. She'd dreamt of having a night just like this with since he gave her his umbrella. But still, there was this nagging thought in the back of her mind, one that told her that Alya might be right. Not because Adrien wasn't amazing or fun. But because Marinette could barely get three full sentences out in front of him. How _would_ she have handled tonight if she had been able to take Adrien instead?

No. She shook herself out of her spiraling thoughts. Alya was wrong. If Marinette was to have any hope of a future with Adrien, she had to believe that Alya was wrong. Sure, she still had some work to do to get over her _slight_ love-struck stutter around him, but she would have made it work if it had been him tonight instead of Chat.

"I could have handled it," Marinette whispered back firmly.

"Okay, well let's see if you're still that confident after the after party." Alya's eyes shone with mischievous glee.

Marinette groaned, but gave up protesting. Alya had invited the whole class, minus Lila and Chloe (and Sabrina who had declined out of solidarity), to her after party. It would be highly suspicious if Marinette just didn't show up after everyone had seen her at the dance all night. She'd just have to be really on her game to make sure she and Chat stayed far away from any bottle spinning.

"What are you two ladies whispering about?" Chat swiveled his head down to Marinette's eye level, shifting his gaze between the two of them suspiciously. "Anything juicy?"

"I'm sure you'll find out later," Alya replied smugly, giving a wink to them both.

"COLD!" Marinette practically screeched before the confusion and curiosity that was wafting over Chat's face could form an actual question. "I – uh – it's cold, and I need my coat!" Snagging Chat's wrist, she bolted away from Alya, to keep them out of the line of fire.

"Are you okay?" There was real concern on Chat Noir's face.

"Oh, yeah! I just got really chilly all of a sudden – nothing my trusty pink marshmallow of a coat won't fix!" She plastered on a fake smile.

Even though it was only a little white lie, she didn't like it. But, considering it was either that or telling him Alya's plot to get the two of them to lock lips, the lie seemed like a safer bet.

Oblivious to Marinette's conundrum, Chat immediately took her hands in his and rubbed them together while he asked for her coat at the check-in table.

Once she was wrapped back up in her cocoon of warmth, they met back up with the rest of the group to make the walk back to Alya's place.

Everyone was buzzing with post dance jitters. Nino was still complaining about the music selection to anyone who would listen, while Alix excitedly told everyone else that she had seen Chloe fall face first into one of the sand boxes just before they left.

As hilarious as the mental image of a frantic Chloe covered in sand was, Marinette was preoccupied with jitters of her own. Stupid "date privileges." Why did she have to let Alya get in her head. And all that stuff Chat had said earlier about being honored to be her date didn't help either. She anxiously twisted the corsage he had given her around her wrist.

"Everything okay in there?" Chat knocked on her head lightly.

"Yeah," she smiled up at him, surprised at how well he could read her, "just a little tired I guess."

He gasped dramatically. "Of course! A princess should never have to walk if she can help it!"

"No Chat, wait! You don't have to – "

But it was too late. In one swift motion he wrapped her arms around his neck, turned around and hoisted her up on his back, piggy-back style. With his arms linked together steadily beneath her knees, he could hold her easily. But her coat was causing problems in the arm area. The sleeves were so ridiculously overstuffed that she could barely bend at her elbows, and she ended up choking him by pressing the palms of her hands into his neck.

"H-have I to – ack – told you th-that I hate this coat?" He continued to struggle against her grip.

She couldn't help but laugh. "What, cat got your tongue?"

He leaned forward so that she slid further up his back, and her stick-straight arms could rest on top of his shoulders without further injuring his neck. Bent over at the waist, he looked like a frail old man carrying a backpack that was way too heavy for him. "More like, surprisingly strong girl is choking me to death!"

"Don't let Alya hear you say that – wait 'til Hawkmoth finds out through the Ladyblog that the great Chat Noir can get taken down by a five-foot tall girl."

"Considering Ladybug could probably kick his ass anytime she wants, I doubt that's really news to anyone!" Alya joined in.

Marinette couldn't help but giggle at that.

"Dude, are you just gonna take that?" Nino asked.

Chat shrugged, causing Marinette's shoulders to rise too. "She's right. I'm no match for my lady."

Cheeks pressed together again from their positioning, Marinette hoped that Chat couldn't feel her blush against him.

The conversation quickly devolved into "who could kick who's ass" of all the known miraculous users. Other than Chat occasionally butting in to tell everyone that Ladybug was obviously the strongest, the two of them mostly just listened until they made it back to the apartment.

**oooooooooo**


	4. Spinning

**Part 4: Spinning**

**oooooooooo**

The after party was in full swing within half an hour of them arriving – the rest of their class had shown up not long after their main group had returned from the dance. There was Christmas music playing, but unlike the dance, it was soft and created a peaceful hum in the background of everyone's chatting.

Max, Alix, and Kim (who in typical fashion, was wearing his swim trunks because he felt they went perfectly with the night's summer theme) were huddled around each other on the couch arguing loudly about who could fit the most tiny marshmallows in their mouth. The rest of the girls, plus Nino and Ivan, were sat in a semi-circle on the floor near Alya's family Christmas tree all sipping cocoa and whispering suspiciously.

Marinette had been sitting at the table politely listening and sipping her own hot cocoa that Chat had brought over for her, while Marc and Nathaniel bombarded Chat with questions about the mechanics of his suit and his powers. They were thrilled to get some more accuracy for the comic they were working on. Chat was, of course, happy to oblige them with countless tales of his awesomeness. But, admittedly, Marinette had stopped listening a while ago. She had instead focused on trying to figure out exactly what Alya was whispering about, and why Rose seemed so giddy about it.

When Alya stood up from her small group a moment later and cleared her throat, she looked directly at Marinette.

She gulped.

"Who wants to play spin the bottle?"

The words hung in the air for a few seconds, taunting her. Tempting her.

But it was Alix who spoke first.

"Sorry, but seeing as like eighty percent of the people here are couples, I'm not sure swapping kissing partners is really my kind of deal," she grimaced. "Not that I really wanted to kiss any of you guys anyway," she added with a shrug.

Everyone mumbled in agreement, while only Rose and Alya looked mildly disappointed. The latter of which shot a look of concession toward Marinette, who was breathing a silent sigh of relief.

"Okay, well I also have some holiday board games, or we can play charades or something?" Alya offered.

"Let's do the charades!" Marinette piped up, glad to have anything other than spin the bottle to occupy their time. "We can go get some paper from the office so we can start setting it up!"

Standing, she looked down at Chat who nodded to follow her down the hallway.

"Cool! I've never played charades before!" He exclaimed.

Marinette stopped to tilt her head at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Well, there was on time when Ladybug lost her voice and that was sort of like charades, except she was _really bad_, or maybe I was just bad at – "

He was interrupted by a loud squeal from where Rose was still sitting in the living room behind them. They both whipped around, fearing there was some sort of danger. But then Marinette saw Alya holding her hand over her mouth, in a feeble attempt to cover up her smug laughter. Everyone was looking at the two of them, while Rose pointed to something just above their heads.

"it'smistletoe," Juleka mumbled, prompting another excited squeal from Rose next to her.

Marinette snapped her head up, and to her horror, Juleka was right. The threshold that led from Alya's living room to the hallway connecting the rest of the apartment, had a small cluster of mistletoe above it. And it was hanging right above her and Chat's heads.

A mixture of panic, anger, and butterflies swirled in her stomach and heat flooded from her face down to her neck. Another swift glare at Alya, who was now waving her hands in front of herself in denial, told Marinette that at least this wasn't some sort of plot. Marinette had walked into this one entirely on her own.

On the couch, Alix was cackling almost maniacally as she pointed at them too. But her aim was a bit off, and Marinette realized that she was pointing to a sign on the wall beside them. It was one of those cliché Christmas signs that they sell at craft stores that have some sort of cheesy message about happiness during the holidays. This sign in particular was titled "The Unequivocal Rules of Mistletoe." It was all standard fare, until the very last line, which stated "_those caught beneath the leaves must kiss for at least ten seconds, lest they face the wrath of the Christmas love elves_."

This was ridiculous. Actually, truly, utterly ridiculous.

Who makes a sign like that? And who made those rules? Surely "Christmas love elves" weren't a thing. She'd never heard of those before. This was bull. She was _not_ going along with this.

But then, she looked at Chat's face.

His pupils were blown wide, jaw slack and lips slightly parted in a small "o." Green eyes blinked away from the sign on the wall slow as molasses, before they met her gaze and flicked ever so subtly down to her lips and back up to her eyes. Was he nervous? Surprised? Disappointed? Excited? She couldn't tell at all. But he was definitely _something_.

Time seemed to slow down around her. He was considering it. It only seemed fair that she considered it too then, right? And she had kissed Chat before, and it wasn't a big deal then so… so this couldn't possibly be that bad, could it?

Max's voice drifted into her ears from somewhere far away. "Judging by their body language, there is a 97.4% chance that they go through with it." It sounded like he was underwater.

Right. People were watching them. She should probably make some sort of move.

It was just Chat. People touch their lips together _all_ the time and nothing earth shattering happens. _It's JUST Chat_, she reminded herself one last time.

And then she leaned.

Thankfully, _thankfully_, he leaned too. She watched as his long lashes fluttered closed millimeters away from her face, and then, their lips were pressed together.

It was a simple peck, with just a bit of added pressure so they could stay better connected. Marinette began to silently count to ten, hyperaware that staying here for either too long or too short of a time would garner nothing but more teasing than necessary from their captive audience.

_1… 2…_

It really wasn't so bad actually. Sure, her heart was pounding like crazy, but that was probably just because of the situation that had led them there. Not because his lips were somehow softer than the skin of his cheek had been. And the way he seemed to be keeping a constant, but gentle pressure against her lips wasn't so bad either.

_3… 4…_

Okay. Ten seconds was a _long_ time to kiss someone when there's no movement involved. What was she supposed to do with her hands? Should her hands be doing something? Will that make him think she likes him? Oh no, she shifted her weight a little bit – did he feel that?

_5… 6…_

Marinette had little to no experience with kissing. Actually, _all_ her kissing experience had been with Chat, hadn't it? _Wait, no! Don't think about the other times you've kissed him WHILE you're kissing him – that makes it weird_!

_7… 8…_

Her heart was slowing down as she became comfortable with their positioning. Their bodies were close enough to be sharing warmth, but still not as close as they had been when they were dancing an hour ago.

It felt a little odd to be connected to someone else for an extended amount of time, just top lip to top lip; bottom to bottom. Bottom lip curling ever so slightly beneath hers, to better capture it between his completely. A brief shock from the moisture of the underside of his bottom lip caused her own lips to part against his instinctually. It was warm, and she felt like she was melting. A puff of air escaped as she adjusted her mouth to his to return his gesture and kiss him ba –

_Wait, what!?_

She yanked her head back at the speed of light, her hand flying up to touch her bottom lip in confusion.

It was damp. From where he had pulled it between his own. And he didn't look much better. A shimmer of lip gloss lightly coating his upper lip from where she had caressed him back – _almost! Almost kissed him back_, she corrected.

She felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water on her. She was blushing, she knew she must be blushing, but she felt a sort of cold electric shock running through her that was like nothing she had ever felt before.

Chat noir had just kissed her. Kissed _Marinette_. Had kissed her more than the rules designated he had to.

But as her eyes searched his face, desperate for the answers to questions she didn't really want to ask, all she could see was the content haze of his eyes.

_Oh my god. I broke him. I don't know how, but I broke him_.

Somewhere off to her side she heard someone cough, and she was painstakingly reminded again that they weren't alone. Everyone had just seen… whatever that was. And they seemed just as shocked as she did.

The noise seemed to startle Chat Noir out of his daze, and he titled his confusion first at the group, and then again when he turned back to Marinette. His brow furrowed further. "Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

Alya made a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a chuckle, which seemed to only confuse Chat further. She opened her mouth to explain, but was cut off by the earth-shattering screeching of steel ripping.

The floor beneath them began to shake before it broke apart completely, creating large cracks and chasms between them and the rest of the group.

_Oh… an akuma_, Marinette thought vaguely.

A black clawed hand clasped itself around her wrist, and coaxed her to run while her thoughts caught up to her.

"Everyone find somewhere safe to hide!" Chat's voice cut through the rest of the noise as he directed her friends to stand in the various doorways around them.

A giant tree trunk began to wind itself up from the canyons that were now forming between the floorboards. The screeching sound was just getting louder and louder.

Piercing and determined green eyes found hers. They were so fierce, and present, and alive. It was like a smack of reality. She had a job to do.

"Marinette," he waited to see that she was listening. "You're going to have to hide here while Ladybug and I take care of the akuma. This closet looks to be in the middle of the house, so hopefully it'll hold until this is done, okay?"

She nodded back to him with determination. Secretly grateful that he had unknowingly given her a perfect spot to transform, she ushered for him to get going.

His hardened battle-ready expression softened for a moment, as his eyes searched her face, clearly debating whether to say something or not.

Biting her lip to hide yet another creeping blush, she shook her head. "Later, Chat. I promise."

He took one more look at her before he nodded and extended his baton, hopping out a nearby window.

Marinette sighed deeply as she shut the closet door and let Tikki out of her purse.

"Wow! That sure was an eventful night, wasn't it Marinette?"

Marinette chuckled softly. "Yep. But it's not over yet – we've got a villain to fight! Tikki, spots on!"

**oooooooooo**


	5. Too Many Puzzle Pieces

**Part 5: Too Many Puzzle Pieces**

**ooooooooooo**

Luckily the akuma – Mandrake, as Hawkmoth had named her – was relatively easy to take down. A single mom whose son had taken their Christmas Eve dinner as a good opportunity to tell her that he would be moving away for university at the end of the term. Hawkmoth had given her the power to turn their apartment – which was just a few floors below Alya's parents' – into an impenetrable fortress made of tree roots. He had also given her the power to render anyone who came too close to her or her son immobile with her deafening screams.

Ladybug's lucky charm was unusually straight forward – a pair of noise cancelling ear muffs, and then Chat seemed to be more focused than usual. He cataclysmed the largest of Mandrake's tree roots without any instruction, and immediately ushered Ladybug forward through the small entrance he had created. The roots began to grow back together behind her, but it didn't matter. With her ear muffs on she was able to locate Mandrake's son without problems, and tear the small stuffed bunny he had been holding. It had been his very first birthday gift from his mom.

As the roots faded from around her, and Mandrake returned to her normal form, Ladybug used her lucky charm to restore order. When her earrings beeped, she instructed Chat to make sure both mother and son were okay, and she swung out the kitchen window.

Careful not to be seen by her friends, she swooped back through the same window in Alya's apartment that she had left just fifteen minutes ago, and scampered into the closet where Chat had left her. She dropped her transformation and sighed in relief. She had gotten back before him; her identity was safe.

Marinette was about to pull out a macaron for Tikki, when the closet door behind her was yanked open.

"Marinette!" Chat said with a relieved sigh, "you're alright!"

"I – yeah – but, Chat you – "

_Beepbeepbeep_

His pupils dialed down to pinpricks as the bright green light of fear and panic washed over them both. In a flurry of gasps and motion, he slammed the closet door to shut them both inside before he pressed his fingers over her eyes. _Bare_ fingers.

"Crap, crap, crap, _crap_," Chat groaned, less than an inch away from her.

Marinette had to hold back nervous laughter. It shouldn't have been funny. But with her head still a little fuzzy from the kiss earlier, he brain wasn't functioning totally normally yet. She couldn't help but think of the irony that the whole reason they had been together tonight was because Chat was upset about Ladybug not knowing his identity and wanting to spend time with her. And here he was, just a fraction of a second away from it happening.

"Sorry, sorry, I was so worried about leaving you and everyone else here that I raced back as fast as I could and didn't think about how much time I had left, and oh _man_ Ladybug is going to kill me."

"Ladybug won't be mad," she shook her head beneath his hold, "I didn't see anything."

"Oh, thank god." She felt his hands relax against her cheekbones. "That would have been pretty awkward." The sound of his relieved smile filled the small room.

"What, you mope to me about wanting Ladybug to know who you are, but when it's me who almost finds out, it would be awkward? That cuts deep, kitty," she teased lightly, taking the small opportunity to distance herself in his mind from her alter ego. Hopefully if she downplayed this whole situation, they could move past it more easily.

He scoffed, the pads of his fingers further loosening their grip on her eyelids. "Yeah, well Ladybug doesn't actually know who I am. Trust me, it would be awkward if you suddenly found out who your date had been all night."

That icy feeling of electric shock ran through her again. A mixture of fear and excitement. "Wait, what?" She whispered.

Was it possible to see the color drain out of a person's face if you couldn't actually see them? Chat's hands turned clammy, and returned their pressure against her as his whole body went stiff as a board.

"A-are you saying… that I _know_ you… o-outside the mask?"

Why did she ask? She could have just let it be, brushed it off and pretended she didn't hear it. Everything would be easier without this tiny bit of enormous information. But it was too late, it was out there, swirling in the air between them, begging her to reach out and just _know_.

A nagging thought, a memory from a year or so ago surfaced so vividly that he didn't have to answer her for it to be confirmed. When Madame Mendeleiev had been akumatized it was because she found Tikki and Plagg at her school. _Their_ school. It could have been a coincidence then, easy to explain away. But not now.

Now it made sense how he had fit in so easily with her friends tonight. Why he had acted so bashful from Nino's compliments - because he probably emknows/em Nino. Even her own comfortability with him began to make more sense to her. She had always attributed her natural connection with him to be because she was used to being around him as Ladybug, she had never considered the possibility that he was holding a similar secret.

Before, she had never really understood his desire to know Ladybug's identity, because knowing him as Chat was always enough for her. He was her partner, someone who was there for her always. That was more than enough.

But now it was there. The curiosity. Who was this mystery boy standing in front of her, who somehow had managed to unknowingly know her on both sides of her own mask. The answer was only fingertips away.

Her hands moved as an entity separate from herself, the knowledge tugging her closer and closer. They trailed from his wrists, over the light friction of his arm hairs, to where he was wearing a light cotton shirt, sleeves rolled up just above his forearms. He was shaking slightly.

"Marinette…"

She wasn't sure if she could stop asking now that she knew the question. This boy had been by her side for years as her partner. But tonight, he had been by her side as her friend. Marinette's friend. They had danced and goofed off and… kissed - an action that she hadn't expected to lodge itself so deeply into her psyche.

Her finger tips brushed over his jaw, until she cradled his face between both her palms. Thumbs brushed over his cheekbones, under his eyes where his mask usually hid him from her. Cheekbones that had smiled at her, teased her, and annoyed her to pieces.

And she knew.

He was Chat. Even in plain clothes, without his mask, she knew who he was. Maybe it was some kind of miraculous magic, maybe she was blind, or maybe her subconscious desire to stay in the dark was just too strong. But feeling the warmth of his face held in her hands, she couldn't picture anyone in front of her other than her fun loving, pun making, overdramatic and occasionally lovely, partner.

He must have felt her smile beneath where his hands were still holding back her vision, because she could feel him wince beneath hers.

She shook her head. "I don't know if I'm just stupid," she pinched his cheek, "but you just feel like Chat to me."

He let out a long breath. "So, you… you don't want to know?"

"I… I'll admit I'm curious," she shrugged. "But I've decided it doesn't matter. It's not my place to know who you are. You're my friend Chat Noir, and that's more than enough."

It was his turn to shake his head. "Well, one thing's for sure. You're definitely not stupid. You're amazing Marinette." He leaned forward and moved his hands around her back to bring her into a hug. She kept her eyes shut tight as they pressed into the fabric of his shirt.

"Okay, okay as sickeningly sweet as all of this bonding is, I'm _hungry_," a familiar rough voice surfaced beside them.

"_Plagg_," Chat hissed as he shifted to cover Marinette's eyes again. "Where have you _been_!? I could have transformed back _minutes_ ago if you had to just grabbed some cheese from my pocket – I know you know where it is!"

"I'm _tired_, A – " there was an acidic bubbly sound, that Marinette guessed was Plagg's natural kwami reaction to almost saying his holder's name out loud. "You've been transformed _all night_ flirting with the baker girl, and then there was an akuma, and I decided I deserved a little cat nap."

"Um, who's talking, Chat? Is that your kwumi?" Marinette flubbed purposely. It had been over a year since Chat had seen Marinette as Mulitmouse, so she had to be careful with how much knowledge she showed.

"Oh, uh. Marinette, this is Plagg, my kwami, yeah. He's _supposed_ to be helping me transform!"

"Yeah, yeah alright I'll eat and then you can transform so that I don't have to watch you two touch each other's faces anymore."

Marinette felt Chat's cheeks warm beneath her hands. Slowly she lowered them back down to her sides. She had been holding him for a little too long, hadn't she.

"I, um… about earlier," he started sheepishly. "I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I don't, uh, I don't know exactly what came over me. I've only ever kissed Ladybug, and I don't even remember those times, so this was sort of my first real kiss and well, I wanted to - no, I mean... I wasn't thinking and it just... I don't know, it just sort of felt…"

_Right_.

Another something unspoken hanging between them, neither of them daring to say it, for fearing it would mean things had changed.

"It's okay, Chat, I think I get it."

"Y-you do?"

"Mm, well, yeah," she absentmindedly twirled his corsage around her wrist, "I mean, I did sort of kiss you back too so… we were probably just so caught up in everything, and it just happened, right?" At least that's what Marinette had been telling herself when they were fighting the akuma. Knowing now that Chat was actually a boy she already knew, did make her stomach flip when she thought about how his bottom lip had captured hers. And there was the fact that she was pretty sure she wouldn't have wanted to stop kissing him if it hadn't been for her friends watching them... But she said she wouldn't go down that path, so she shoved the thought away.

"R-right." He swallowed. "W-we just got caught up in the moment. That makes sense."

When Plagg was done with his cheese, Chat called for his transformation, and clawed fingers replaced the smooth skin that had been covering Marinette's eyes. She found herself mourning the loss of the skin to skin contact.

"We've been in here a while, I'm surprised no one has come looking for us," Chat pointed out.

"I'm not," Marinette scoffed, "Alya has probably known we were in here the whole time and purposely left us alone."

"But why would she – "

The closet door swung open, and there was the friend in question. "Ah, ha! I _knew_ you two would want some privacy after that _steamy_ mistletoe kiss!"

Chat immediately took his hands away from Marinette's face.

"Alya, you _know_ it's not like that," she glared at her best friend.

Alya shrugged. "That's not what it looked like from out here."

"Um, where is everyone else exactly?" Chat asked, thankfully changing the subject.

Talking about the kiss with him had been awkward enough, let alone talking about it with Alya _in front_ of Chat.

"Oh, they all left after that akuma attack, their parents wanting to keep them safe and have them home for the rest of Christmas Eve ya know."

"And you waited until now to come get us, because…?" Marinette drawled.

"Oh, because Alix, Kim and I took bets on how long you guys would stay in the closet. And considering you lasted way longer than either of them guessed, it looks like I won!" She pulled out her phone gleefully, presumably to tell them about her win. "Anyway, Marinette, your parents texted mine and said you could stay the night as long as you're back early for Christmas morning. But the cat here has to go home."

Chat nodded. He hesitated a moment, looking between the two girls. Alya took it as her cue to give them some more space, and she ducked out of the room.

Biting his lip, Chat paused only a moment longer before he tentatively grabbed Marinette's hand, and led her over to the nearby window.

"I know things got a little, uh, weird, there at the end," he looked away from her shyly, "but I did have a really good time with you tonight, and I'm glad you invited me."

He was certainly right. As much as Marinette wanted to deny it, she could feel that something had changed between them. She didn't know what it was, but somehow after knowing him for all this time, this felt like some sort of beginning for them. The now familiar squirming feeling in her stomach when he looked down at her told her that he felt it too.

"I had a really good time too, Chat." She beamed up at him.

"Maybe that boy you wanted to ask won't be able to make a future dance, and we can go together again. Except, maybe without the whole almost finding out my identity thing."

Her face flamed at the mention of Adrien. "W-well, that'll probably be pretty likely. He doesn't seem to get to go out much."

This felt dangerous. Knowing that Chat knew her as his civilian self made her rethink everything she had ever said to him. Had he pieced together that she had wanted to ask Adrien? If he knew her, then he probably knows Adrien too. If she wasn't careful, he'd find out about her crush, and then the teasing would be endless.

"Or I guess I could always ask you as myself, and you'd be none the wiser," he smirked.

Okay, this was _really_ dangerous. It was like she suddenly had all the puzzle pieces; she just didn't know where they went. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. "Ugh this is too weird, Chat! Now I'm just going to be constantly wondering if you're like secretly watching me or something!"

His grin grew wider. "Wouldn't that just mean I've been watching you the whole time?"

Her eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. "Stop. Making. It. Weird." She lightly punched him in the chest. "No watching me at all!"

"Well, if I stop talking to you all together then that'll be pretty suspicious too won't it."

"How are you so casual about this – stop _laughing_!" She threw her hands up in the air. "God, it's almost like you _want_ me to find out who you are!"

His face quirked in consideration. "Mm, no I don't think so. You're a lot more comfortable around me when I'm Chat and teasing you like this is too much fun."

Her eyes widened. "_Stop giving me hints!_"

His warm chuckle filled the air, and she wanted to smash her head against the wall. _Tikki is SO going to kill me_.

"This is a disaster," she mumbled.

"Okay, okay, I promise. No more hints, or anything. I'll act completely normally around you alright?"

"You better." She shot him a death glare to tell him she really meant business.

The angrier she made her expression, the softer his became. It was one of those looks he gave Ladybug from time to time. The kind that she tried to ignore in the heat of battle because it was too full of adoration. A soft smile played on his lips, as he leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Merry Christmas, Marinette."

Still scowling, she bit back a smile. "Merry Christmas, Chat," she grumbled.

He held her gaze a moment later, and then with one final wink, he jumped out the window and vaulted himself off into the night.

"Ooh, girl! Scoop!" Alya swooped back into the room. "What was all that about? I know I've been teasing you to no end tonight, but now I'm seriously asking. You like him, don't you?"

"Come on, you know Chat's just a friend."

Alya gave her a knowing look. "Are you sure about that?"

Marinette sighed. Running everything over in her head, this night had been such a whirlwind. It was exhilarating, exciting, and awkward at times, but the more she thought about it, the feeling she took away from it was an ever-growing warmth. A warmth that she could attribute only to playful smirks and soft eyes.

This time Alya was right. Chat was more than just her friend. More than just a partner to her too. She wasn't even sure there was a word for what he was to her. She just knew it was more. Something unquantifiable. _More_ than unquantifiable. It was irreplaceable.

"I don't think I'm sure about anything anymore."

**oooooooooo**

* * *

**A/N: That's it - that's the final part! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope I didn't tease you too much with that almost reveal! I just didn't feel like they were quite ready yet, and I wanted to try a bit of a different take on things. I liked the idea that they've learned more about each other and are starting to see each other in a new light, and I didn't want the slow shift in feelings they'd been having all night to be overtaken with a full reveal. **

**Thanks again for reading, and to everyone who's been leaving reviews! I love seeing your reactions to my favorite dorks being awkward and unknowingly in love lol! I had so much fun participating in the Secret Santa exchange!**


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